•⁠Attaining World Peace May Be Difficult Now – Former Envoy

The Vice Chancellor of the African School of Economics, The Pan-African University of Excellence, Prof. Mahfouz Adedimeji, has urged Nigerians and the world at large to embrace hope despite the chaos that is increasingly becoming the order of the day. He stressed that as dark as the horizon may be, human beings cannot afford to lose hope that one day, there will be peace and justice in the world and that good will replace evil on the planet.
Adedimeji, a Fellow of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice, made this submission in his address, “A World Without War”, delivered on the occasion of the special lecture organised by the university last Monday as part of the activities marking the 2025 International Day of Peace.

The Vice Chancellor noted that significance of Peace Day has gained more resonance in today’s world that is being devastated and divided by war. According to him, “We are living witnesses to racism and genocide committed with impunity as the world pretends that human lives only matter on the basis of their skin pigmentation and religious beliefs. And as the United Nations Secretary General, António Gutterres, said in his message to commemorate this year’s edition, ‘We must silence the guns. End suffering. Build bridges. And create stability and prosperity.’”

The Fellow of the World Institute for Peace stressed that Nigerians should remain purposeful and peaceful because the entire water in the ocean cannot sink a ship except and until the ship allows the water inside it. Accordingly, the prevalence of negativity in the world won’t change individuals who refuse to allow hubris and hatred inside them.

He illustrated his point with the scenario that unfolded during the Cold War when the East Berliners threw thrash across the Berlin Wall but the West Berliners returned their action with sweets and candies thrown across the wall, with a note, “Each one gives what they have.” He encouraged Nigerians to have and keep peace so that they can give it. “Let’s have compassion and light so that we can illuminate the world,” he added.

Delivering the special lecture at the event, a former Nigerian ambassador to Mozambique, with concurrent accreditation to Swaziland, Madagascar and Mauritius, Albert Omotayo, decried the state of the world, which he said is full of complexities, paradoxes and the unknown saying that the world itself has not really changed much except that man has progressed in evil, increasingly becoming less human and more brutish in his ways.

As a diplomat, Omotayo has reflected on the state of the world and concluded that world peace may be unattainable in our lifetime.

He described how various philosophers have described the concept of God citing authorities like Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, St. Augustine, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Immanuel Kant and others pointing out that the divergence of their views shows how the idea of God has remained central to humanity’s search for meaning, truth and moral grounding.

While advocating forgiveness as a means of coping with the complexities of this world at a personal level, he traced the challenges that confront humanity regarding conflict and war to the beginning of creation stressing that the world still have a lot of work to do now to achieve world peace in future.

According to the philosopher and University of Manchester alumnus, one of the reasons behind the prevalence of war today is the failure of human beings to recognise how they got to the world. He noted that when man first appeared on earth, he was baffled by the expanse of all what he saw but did understand. He then realised the need to fight to guarantee his survival.

“Long after he had survived, he thought of flourishing as well. This decision, most probably, was the beginning of man’s irreversible, eternal destiny of endless struggle or fight, for survival and flourishing,” he noted.

According to the author of many books including Nigeria’s Struggle with Nationhood and The Trial of Death, with more people on earth and their inherited belief that they must struggle for survival and flourishing came competition. He added that their struggle ultimately gave birth to desires, interests, clashes of interest, adventure, goal-setting, development of instruments for easier and faster means of struggle, more effective ways of increasing and preserving gains, ownership, friendship, envy, enmity, alliances, greed and others in order to consolidate and prolong their survival and flourishing on earth.

He lamented the atrocities unfolding in Gaza and Ukraine as well as the insecurity in Nigeria and attributed the violence to the belief in struggle, dominance and flourishing at the expense of others.

He noted that chaos is a disease that had afflicted man since the beginning of time and that curing it cannot be achieved within a predictable timeframe though there is optimism that man is in the process of becoming.

The guest lecturer recommended that individuals and societies should characteristically practise forgiveness when they fall below one another’s standard and that people should let love motivate and shape their action to others.

In their goodwill messages, the Assistant Commander of Corps, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Raymond Yusuf, and the Founder of Path to Peace Foundation, Mr Abubakar Akande, appreciated the African School of Economics for its public engagement and pledged their support to the university in its peace advocacy and developmental initiatives for the betterment of the society and humanity at large.

They noted that this year’s Peace Day theme, “Act Now For A Peaceful World”, is a clarion call and an urgent message for everyone to embrace peace and cooperation and shun violence and war.

Highlights of the occasion included the presentation of award to Ambassador Omotayo by the Vice Chancellor of African School of Economics, assisted by the Registrar, Mrs Emilomo Ogunboye, and goodwill messages by guests, including the Assistant Director of Corps, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Raymond Yusuf and the Founder, Path to Peace Foundation, Mr Abubakar Akande.